The thrill of victory...

If you read yesterday's post you know we ended the night with a few rounds of Just Dance (Wii). Some how I ended up the winner in all the matches I was in...the champagne must've loosened me up...haha
The party ended...we cleaned up and I figured I might have a little bit of a headache in the morning...
when I woke up I did not have a headache...however I turned my wrist a certain way...and it was really sore...
Ahhhh the thrill of victory...the pain in the wrist!

The end of October

It was party time...we decided to have a few people over to watch the Gator game
It just so happens that John went fishing Thursday (with Ron, Ben, Charlie) and Friday (with Reid, Chandler, Art) and they caught fish both days. Dolphin, tuna and a big wahoo on Friday!
Chuck and Pat helped roll some sushi. Ron made "Dolphin Parmigiana". we seared some Wahoo and also ate a bunch of other good food.
It also happened to be Reid's 55th birthday today...so we celebrated that....good thing...because we weren't celebrating Georgia's victory over FL...
It was a nice afternoon/evening...met some new people and enjoyed our old friends.
we all ate until we were full.
Then danced some of it off...when the game ended and we got out our WII games.
Ellie and I danced to "Cotton Eye Joe". She danced her shoe off...haha
check out the moves!
Reid enjoyed the party...and we all had fun.
Now if we could just do something about the Gators....... :)

Some Halloween stories and more

It's almost Halloween and there's too many stories to read! I visited my friend's class today and read a couple of books. I'm saving some of these for Storytime. Nancy Shaw's- Sheep books are always simple and fun. Sheep Trick or Treat is about the sheep trick or treating around the barnyard. Each animal offers it's own type of treat...like dried up flies, hay, clover...it's cute.
The Halloween Kittens by Maggie Kneen is a sweet little book. The cute illustrations and flaps to lift make it perfect for story time.
Add the little gold sparkle on the pages and it's sure to be a hit.
Fun cats hanging on the back "porch"
Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler is a cute story about the skeleton who wakes up with hiccups. hic, hic, hic...and nothing he tried worked to get rid of them...so his friend Ghost finally decides to take matters into his own hands. It's fun! (I had never seen this one before...even though it's been out since 2002.)
The Foggy Foggy Forest is another good one for Story time. The first page is a silhouette...then you lift the page to reveal all sorts of fairy tale folk out and about in the woods. Little ones have fun guessing "who" is on the next page.
Room on the Broom is another book that's been out awhile (2001)..but I've never seen it before it was returned to our library last week. I was drawn to the illustrations and the rhyming story...but it's a little too long for my group
It could be a little too scary too...but it's a cute story about all the friends working together.
For the 1st graders I brought some other favorites. The Biggest Pumpkin Ever is a nice little story about Clayton (a town mouse) and Desmond (a farm mouse) who both find the same pumpkin and help it grow, Clayton wants to win the prize for the biggest pumpkin...Desmond wants the biggest Jack-o-Lantern ever...they have both been fertilizing and watering the pumpkin and helping it grow....and they make a deal so that they both can win.
I think I mentioned The Scarecrow's Hat last year...it's just a cute story. I used it last week when our theme was Scarecrows.
and I can't forget one of my favorites...Space Case by Edward and James Marshall. A "Thing" comes down from outer space on Halloween night and joins right in with the Trick or Treaters...haha I love how Buddy's father doesn't even notice thing when it comes home with Buddy. That and the fact that Buddy earns an A- for his project...which is the thing doing math rpoblems on the board...hahah...reminds me of some teachers I've known...haha.


We made some paperbag scarecrows...pretty easy and each one had it's own personality...the kids enjoyed them.

I love these fall themes!

Race Day

Okay so I'm a week behind...time just got away from me this past week. Here's the photos from the(4th annual) Witch Way 5k. Pre race activities at Nance Park in Indialantic.
Only Al... would want tocould pull this off...here he is in his super duper racing suit.
The race started at 5th Avenue...down by Starbucks.The runners naturally took off leaving the slower runners and walkers behind. We over heard one group of adults and young (5-6 yr olds) the mom was saying "Slow and steady...don't rush." John piped up "I can guarantee you that by mile 2 they will all be going slow and steady'" hahaha
some racers and spectators were in costumes...and some of the walkers/runners sported the "Glow in the dark" t-shirt we got.
The race ended up back at Nance Park...and then it was followed by after race activities at LongDoggers. Al and the committee got the whole Indialantic Shopping Center involved...the businesses stayed open and offered candy to Trick-or-Treating kids. There was live music,a Bounce house, games, booths...lots of food and drink. It was a beautiful evening and lots of fun.
We enoyed hanging out with lots of friends and watching the Gators.........lose. Oh well....
The highlight of the evening was when the Mayor presented Al with a placque and announced that from now on October 15th was to be "AL STEIGINGA DAY".
Al was very pleased to be recognized. He does a lot for the community and with his help the race earned over $20,000!
Oh and by the way...John and I both improved our times...we walked most of the way...jogged through a few intersections and ran the last 1/2 block or so. I had to beat one lady who was ahead of me most of the race...whenever I passed her...she caught up and jogged by me ( there's always at least one...haha)so in the end I decided I was determined to beat Lady Gaga (her T shirt)...and I did. She actually came up to John and I afterwards and said we were good motivation for her...we kept her at a good pace. That's my job! hahah :)

What can I say..I like a good sunset

Yesterday evening we walked in the Witch way 5K. It started at 6:30...so as we walked, the sun was setting.
I did stop to take a photo or two along the route...but they weren't so great, especially the sunset......because I missed the "moment"
Right as we were nearing the end of the race...I saw the red sky...I tried to quickly get past the buildings blocking my view...but it was too late. Tonight however...I had all the time in the world. I was taking Kiena for her evening walk when I saw these clouds. Ran in and got my camera. I liked the way there seemed to be layers.
Then I just watched the sky as the sun set.
The neighbors may have wondered what I was doing...standing on the street corner taking photos...hahah...especially the three who had stopped to chat about a block away...haha
But...how could I resist this?
Tomorrow...a little about the 5K and the party afterwards. :)

Weekend storm

We had a storm over the weekend...it rained for two days...pretty much all day
and the wind was blowing. There were some pretty strong gusts. It wasn't a tropical system per say...but it sure acted like one.
Our neighbor across the street found out a few months ago that she has lung cancer. There is nothing they can do...so it is just a matter of time. One thing Ra had said was that she wished she could sit on her back porch and watch a hurricane blow through once more...that and to use her generator that she had installed after all the hurricanes in 2004. Well...it wasn't a hurricane but we figured this was the storm she wanted. The power went out a few times...her generator kicked on...and it was the perfect kind of storm...because it didn't cause any damage.
John and I were kind of laughing at ourselves...we are lucky it wasn't a hurricane...because were were totally unprepared.
We had one little flashlight that worked...then eventually rounded up a second one. we did have some batteries...but no 9 volt...which is what we needed for the weather radio and/or our small AM/FM radio in our room.
At one point John ran across the street and got some D batteries from Ra...and just as we got them all into the radio in Megan's old room...the power came back on. So...if there had been any severe weather coming...we wouldn't have known....(once the power went out that is). We had food and plenty of water...but that's about it.
After the storm we had some clean up to do in the yard...not as much as we would have had...if we hadn't done the trimming we did recently. All around town there were lots of palm fronds, some small branches and lot of leaves.That...and lots of puddles. The water ran out of places to drain...the ditch along Paradise Blvd was at least double in size...I took a picture on my cell phone...if I can figure out how to get it from the phone to the computer...I'll add them. There was a lot of water! An hour or two after I walked by...I noticed the City vehicles lined up to figure out how to get the water to start draining...before more started falling!
Our neighbors had no power for an entire night & day...glad we just had short outages.
Everything is back to normal...the sun was out again today...but I can hear rain on the roof right now!